Video: CEQA as public health tool

Groups like the Physicians for Social Responsibility - L.A. have been concerned about the impact of USC's Village
development project. (Rendering: USC)

When we attended the recent Planning and Conservation League (PCL) meeting on the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), there were, as you might expect, a roomful of environmentalists who were there to defend the 42-year-old landmark California environmental law.

The group's executive director, Martha Argüello, who told us that her group has used CEQA to fight infill developments in Los Angeles, the expansion at the University of Southern California and the CEQA exemption for the planned new NFL Stadium in Los Angeles.

She said that many poor people have been and will be impacted by these projects, and one of those impacts is on the health of the residents who are uprooted.

Argüello thinks projects like this should demand a CEQA health impact analysis which they currently don't require:

CEQA modernization was one of seven Signature Initiatives recommended by the California Economic Summit. We are following events in Sacramento and around the state as the Legislature prepares to act on the 42-year-old state environmental law.

CEQA in the 21st Century -- a series of news stories and individual perspectives designed to educate and spark dialogue on CEQA as the California Legislature revisits the role the environmental law will play in the future of our economy.